December 12, 2012

LG 840G Review - Tracfone

A Newer Phone From TracFone with 3G and WiFi

The LG 840G is a touchscreen phone from Tracfone that offers a smartphone feel and look but with a no-contract prepaid cell phone.

It is basically a much improved LG 800G with only a slightly higher price tag.

Many people agree that the LG840G is Tracfone's best offering yet (excluding the recent smartphones), with a handful of great features that give this phone a similar feel to other smartphones on the market. But be aware this phone does not compare with top of the line phones from other major contract companies.

LG 840G Features and Specs

This phone has most of the standard Tracfone features, but also includes several useful features worth spending a little extra for.

White LG 840G

Triple Minutes for Life

Mobile Web

Media Player

2.0 MP Camera/Video

Hands Free Speaker

Voice Recorder

Wall Charger

3-4 day normal use battery life

3G and WiFi Connectivity

2GB MicroSD Card

About the size of an iPod Touch or iPhone

Likes and Dislikes for the LG 840G from Tracfone

Let's begin with the Likes:

There are quite a few features for the LG 840G that make it a very worthwhile upgrade from other phones.

Triple Minutes for Life means that if you add a 60 minute card, you would get 180 total minutes! (and don't forget to use a promo code!)

The battery life is advertised to last 4hrs of constant talk time, or 13 days on standby. Users have determined that with normal use, the battery lasts an impressive 3-4 days.

Large view of LG 840G

Another big plus for this phone is the included 2GB MicroSD card. On previous phones such as the LG 500G or 530G, one would have to buy a MicroSD card separably in order to use the Media player or store more than a small amount of data on the phone. But the LG 840G delivers with it's included MicroSD card.

Finally, one of the best features for the 840G is the 3G/WiFi. When connected to WiFi networks, such as in your home, at work, or other locations with free WiFi, browsing does not deduct from your prepaid minutes. This makes it possible to actually use the Mobile Web without draining your prepaid minutes in a hurry.

Additionally, the previous standard minute rate for web browsing of .5 units per minute has been changed to a ratio of actual data used, instead of time spent online. This also makes web browsing more economical than in the past.

This phone does a good job of correcting a lot of the Dislikes we had about previous Tracfones. The included SD card, WiFi connectivity and Triple Minutes for Life leaves only a small handful of possible dislikes, which we will quickly mention here.

The phone runs a java based proprietary operating system which allows the installation of .jar apps, and is not a smartphone. This means that android apps etc. won't work on this phone. But, with a little effort, apps such as Google Maps can be installed on the phone.

Another interesting dislike is the QWERTY keypad that appears when texting or entering a web address. The problem occurs when one navigates to a website that has open text areas for entering information (such as registering for a website). No keypad appears and so it is impossible to enter any information. Using a different browser such as Opera Mini, is one way to get around this problem. Hopefully this issue will be addressed in the near future.

Finally, it is important to mention again that this phone is a good phone, with some great features and a good price, but it doesn't run on a standard OS, like Android for example.

If you are interested in a great phone with a QWERTY keypad, consider the LG 530G.

Overall Opinion and Review of the LG 840G

The LG 840G is stylish, modern and faster than previous Tracfone mobile phones with the feel of an iPod touch or iPhone. It provides plenty of useful features such as the microSD card, WiFi, and Triple Minutes for Life.

This phone is a great upgrade from other Tracfones, but those who are thinking of switching from a contract smartphone to the LG 840G may be a little disappointed with some of the limitations.

The cellphone retails for $59.99 most places, with occasional sales at various locations. However, it can sometimes be found for much less from Amazon (last check it was $40 w/ free shipping!)

With any touchscreen phone, covers and cases are very valuable in protecting the phone from scratches or other damage. Here is a link to LG 840G Covers on Amazon with lots of options to suit anyone's needs and preferences.

As far as we know it is still .3 units per sms. The 3g browsing rate is different, however. It supposedly charges based on data used, not time spent online, which seems like a nice change. Browsing using wifi is free however.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem so. It would be nice if it would show some of the message information before you had to spend to open it, but it does have triple minutes for life, and texts are only .3 units.

1. Sign up for a Google Voice number.2. Disable your Tracfone voicemail and use Google Voice's voicemail3. Configure your Google Voice account to "Receive text messages on this phone" as well as "Notify me of new voicemails via text"3. Tell friends to text you/call you through your Google Voice number (from step 1)4. When your Tracfone phone alerts you of incoming texts (as a result of step 3), use the phone browser over Wifi to login to your Google Voice account to view as well as reply to text messages for FREE (No mins wasted). You can also listen to voicemails through your Google Voice account without wasting minutes.

This is a great money saving tip that I have actually used before as well. A little tricky to work things out, but it can save you a lot of money over time! Especially if you only text a few people a lot and are located in a place with free wifi. Thanks for sharing this!

I am having difficulty with the LG840 QUERTY keyboard being way too sensitive. It is very difficult to type a text msg without having to correct the words several times. Is there a sensitivity setting or a stylus I could use to overcome this?

Becoming accustomed to a touchscreen can be challenging. Even switching between one touchscreen phone to another can be difficult. The best suggestion we have is to give it some time, and keep working with it. After a few days/weeks of use, you should get accustomed to it and be just fine.

What's the CPU on this new phone like? I have the LG800G and trying to run most java games, it's very slow. Also, does it allow for mp3s to be accessed by track number? The LG800G, when I open an album, lists the tracks by title alphabetically and I've found no way to change this.

This is a good question but the only answer I can think of is trying to put the contacts on a micro sd card and then switch the cards. Not sure if this will work but I'll give it a test myself. Tracfone's aren't exactly known for being easy to do things with besides call/text.

Peter Vanosdall Thanks for the review on the LG840g, I ordered one from amazon got it for Under $110.00 plus another $30.00 off for putting it on their credit card. But I think I am going to have trouble. The last time I bought a phone online, I had to send it to TracFone and they sent me a different phone because I can not get a good enough signal with a sim card 0 to 2 bars, with my older LG slide I get, well got 6 or 7 bars + 1x. Do you think they make the LG840g in a non sim card phone ? I do not think that the wifi mode will work with a bad signal? Could you advise me of what I might be able to do. I really, really like the new 840.Don Burnett in Montana [pm59433@hotmail.com]PS Just got email from TracFone,Unfortunately, your local calling area does not provide data services. Therefore, you will only be able to make and receive calls from your new TracFone. You can click "Yes" to proceed with the upgrade process acknowledging that that your new handset's browser will not work, or you may stop the upgrade process. Could this mean none or just not at home?Thanks again for your imput

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal on the phone. It may be that you are in an area that is not covered well by CDMA tracfones, so you might have to switch to GSM phones. They are two different networks that tracfone has phones for. I would suggest going on tracfones website and go to their phone section, enter your zip and see what kind of phones they try to sell you. if they have a G at the end, like LG 840 G, then you are in an area for GSM phones. If they have a C at the end, like LG 501 C, then you are in a CDMA network area. Once you know what network works in your area, try to get a phone that matches that.

How long, I wonder, before Tracfone offers a true Android phone? Net10, which is Tracfone's pay-by-month division, already has several models.

When you can get a true Android, pay Tracfone's minute rates for call/text, and use Wifi for everything else... well, that's the day the cellular contract providers begin sliding into the dustbin of history. And good riddance to them.

My question is the same as KaylaKaze.....how do you disable the Tracfone voicemail? So, although I haven't set my tracfone VM up yet, I suspect it's not free.....as in, it uses minutes? Any help is appreciated.

I bought my LG840 TP thru an HSN offer and they showed GPS as a feature. Nothing was mentioned about buying an app or anything additional for it. I cannot locate it or any instructions. Anybody have the same issue?

Hi, I am having the same trouble. It iscalled Google Maps not GPS. You can try to download it, but will have trouble bringing it up. Go to main screen and tap on Games and app. You will see the info about Goole maps. If you can bring it up, let me know.

I bought my LG840G also from HSN. The feature is called Google Maps.If you go to the main screen and tap on Games and App, you will see info on Google maps, you can download it , but I am having trouble bringing it up, keep getting message about it being an untrusted Midlet. Maybe you won't have the same trouble. If not, let me know. Thanks

I bought a lg840g from tracfone and I want to update the microsd card from a 2 to 32 has anyone done that? I am looking at microsd memory cards and see only microsdhc cards, can the lg840g take a microsdhc card or only as microsd card. I'm confused?

While I have not tried a 32gb micro sdhc card, I have heard from others that the LG 840g can take up to a 32gb card so it should work. If you don't want to take the risk, go for a 16gb microsd card, it should hold plenty and be a little bit cheaper.

When I send a photo, Tracfone deducts 1.00 for the pic and then another 4 plus minutes? Why is this? Before I had the LG 840 I was only charged 1.00 for sending pics. I tried making sure I was connected to Wifi when sending pics, but it doesn't make any difference. I lose almost 6 minutes every time I send or receive a text photo.

I am using a SanDisk Ultra 32GB (Class 6) micro sdhc card in my 840g with no problem. I can transfer files quickly from my PC with a LG micro-USB cable that was purchased seperately from ebay@$4.99. Phone shows up as an external USB drive. There only seems to be a couple draw backs with using a large capacity card: 1) depending on the amount of data stored, you may have to wait a short time as the phone "loads" pictures for viewing. 2)more mp3s can be loaded into the music player, but file management of the songs is a bit cumbersome (especially if you have a lot of music loaded.)

When I connect to wi-fi, I can check my gmail account, but how can I use Google as my browser on the LG 840g? If I must use the Tracfone default browser while on a free wi-fi, will I be charged for time/data by Tracfone?

While Tracfone uses the networks of most major cell phone carriers, the 'G' at the end of LG 840G signifies that it uses the GSM network, which ATT and T-Mobile are the main companies. So, yes this phone uses ATT networks usually.

This was my question also, can't seem to find a way around it, funny though once you open the text it will show you who it is from when you go back into your messages. Think it should be able to show you before opening, shows you who it is when it is a call. Still trying to see if there is a way around this.

I would like to know how to make my old wma ringtones useable on the LG 840g. My 800g would accept wma files and use them as ringtones, but this phone doesn't have the "use as" button activated when these music files are open. Is it that the phone will only recognize mp3 files for ringtones or will it only use Tracfone ringtones? Thanks.

I'm currently using a Tracfone Motorola w376g flip cellphone and considering the LG840G cellphone. I like Tracfone and I want to upgrade and still avoid getting into a 2yr contract with a smartphone.

A few questions:[1] LG840G is not considered a smartphone but does have an onboard operating system? How does this compare with the OS in the smartphones?[2] How good is the 2.0 camera re taking group pics at family gathering or office parties? Can these pics be sent to other phones via wi-fi? [3] Do I need to get a new phone number if I make the LG840G the primary phone and keep the Motorola W376G as a backup phone? Or, as an alternative--should I transfer my current number to the LG840G and get a new number for the Motorola W376G phone?[4] Does the LG840G have GPS or can this be downloaded and added to the phone? What about getting a different browser for using the Internet on the phone?[5] How hard will it be to transfer contact info between phones? Or should I keep the contact info on both phones?[6] Since the LG840G is not a smartphone, does it require some kind of data plan for using GPS, sending/receiving email, texting, etc.?[7] Is it better to get the LG840G thru QVC, HSN, or Amazon vs. buying directly from Tracfone or Radio Shack?

Well, sounds like you have thought this through! I'll try to answer all your questions if possible.

1 - the LG 840g is in sort of a gray area as to whether it is a smartphone or not. It does not have the capabilities, such as an app market, of android or other smartphone OS, it has been somewhat limited in that area. However, I believe you can still put java based applications on it, or some other type of application that allows you to use google maps and such.2 - The camera is decent, but don't count on taking any pictures you will want to print and frame. It is possible to send them via MMS, or email them using the WiFi. It is also easy to store them on the phone, and then download them to a computer. 3 - If you want to make the LG 840g you primary phone, switching numbers is very easy to do. However, this will deactivate your old phone, so you will have to reactivate it if you want to keep using it. I would probably suggest switching your current number to the new phone, especially if you have a lot of friends/family who already have it.4 - While the phone does not come with a GPS, many people download and use Google Maps which works well. You can also download other mobile internet browsers besides the default. Opera Mini is a popular one.5 - I have gotten feedback that RadioShack can move or copy your contacts from one phone to another, which might be very nice if you have a lot of contacts. 6 - the LG 840g works very similar to previous tracfones - you are charged a certain number of minutes for calls, texts, and web browsing. However, it also has WiFi capability, which means that when you are at a location with WiFi, such as your house, you can connect to that and surf the web, email, etc for free. So, for example, if you are using Google Maps to look for directions while at home on your WiFi connection, it won't cost you any minutes. But if you use Google Maps while driving in your car out of range of WiFi, you will have to use the Mobile Web, which will deduct minutes from your phone.

7 - I've seen a lot of different deals, and so it just depends on where you can get it the cheapest. I have purchased several phones on Amazon, and they tend to be a really good deal, but the prices go up and down a lot so you have to watch them.

If you buy the phone from RadioShake, they might have a good deal plus they might transfer your contact list.

Hi, Peter, and thanks so much for your blog and all of the highly useful info here! I want to download a high(er)-speed browser to my LG840G, but also want the option to use the qwerty keyboard in text fields while surfing, e-mailing, etc. (as the solely available keyPAD option is slow and annoying)... Which version of Opera Mini would you recommend? 4.4 or 5.1? (I hear that version 7.1 is too slow/sluggish on this phone...) I also hear that 4.4 is fast, but I am unsure whether or not it has the qwerty option available...(?) 5.1 does, but this version is supposedly a little slower than 4.4. And, also, what about UC's browser, as an alternative to Opera? What are the pros and cons of each? Does UC have the qwerty option? Additionally, another key consideration for me is data-compression. I know that Opera compresses data by up to 80-90%... which is GREAT! Lastly, will the new downloaded browser replace the existing Tracfone homepage when I login??? Any and all info on this is greatly appreciated... Thanks again very much! - R. Adams, CA

Well, you have a lot of good questions. I would probably go with opera mini 4.4 for the speed aspect as that is always nice to be fast. As far as some of you other questions, they are just a little too technical for me, but I can direct you to a really great resource I have found with a forum of knowledgeable people who can probably answer all of these very specific questions. Check out http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/330-Tracfone-Net10

Thanks for your reply. I did experiment and the mp3's will work, but I don't know how to convert wma to mp3. I suppose I would need a new program for that.

Also, I haven't been able to find how to set a text message tone. The only settings that come up are "Ringtone" and "Ringtone ID." It's my husband's phone and I don't have much time to play with it, so any help would be appreciated.

How is the coverage with this phone? Does it work all over USA? On the tracfone website, this phone comes up when I key in my zip code. But when I key it into Wal-mart's website, it says phone will not work. zip code 14830.

The LG 840g uses the GSM networks (which is where the 'G' at the end comes from). Thus, it uses primarily AT&T service towers. It does use some other companies towers, such as T-Mobile I think, so where ever those companies have good coverage, so will this phone. I tested your zip code as well, and it seems like coverage should be just fine in your area for this phone according to tracfone.

No, it won't because it is only on GSM networks and Verizon is a CDMA network. However, Tracfone does have a variety of CDMA phones which use sprint and werizon towers. Any tracfones with a 'C' at the end use these towers.

can't seem to transfer any music or photos, phone just shows massive storage connected & just sits there. Any Ideas, Tracfone no help, rep said you can only transfer from the phone to computer, not what the manual says.

I have had the LG840 for two months now and today I attempted to email pictures, using WiFi and my gmail account. Could not find the icons to help me attach pictures from the phone. Is this possible? Any help will be appreciated.

I bought the phone from HSN about a month ago and it works great. One question, my phone beeps occasionally for no reason and I'm not sure if it is related but the phone deducts fractions of minutes when it's not being used. Any idea why this would be happening?

I have looked everywhere for a phone cover to fit this phone. I ordered one off of fatorder.com and it was not the right case and plus I would like to have a nicer one like you can get for iphones or other phones but it seems like there isnt any. Does anyone know if they will be making them here soon or if there is another phone case similar to the phone that would fit?

You dont happen to be hitting the iternet browser do you? If so it will deduct mins. Also has anyone been sending you or have you been sending picture or multimedia messages or emails? Because the phone will wait a few moments after the messages or emails have been sent and then it will beep and take away the mins that were used for the message, email etc.

Zip-code is not precise enough to detect some "dead-zones" I bought my Motorola W376G years ago and Tracfone has served my basic needs extremely well at very controllable costs. Some months I use many minutes, sometimes none. I'm totally happy with it, at home or driving across the US.HOWEVER, I bought it for WA State, and now temporarily in MD, I rented a room in a "Dead-Zone." The entire community (Greenbelt, MD outside DC) is in a shadow area. I must drive a mile or so going from 1-bar passing into full-bars reception. At home, the phone may beep for incoming text or voice-mail notification -- however, in-coming or out-going VOICE is 98% impossible.With my older Motorola W376 "G" (GSM), I assume it's just AT&T (or T-Mobil) serving this area. Verizon (with FiOS) is great and very aggressive around MD-DC.Bottom line: It IS possible to find shadow "dead-zones" with totally unacceptable service within Zip-code areas. Traveling, that's okay; but for home use -- it just don't work.Thanks for your excellent work.

Yes, it is always 1 unit per minute. Whether its roaming or cross country calling, the rate is the same. In the past, it was different, but fortunately Tracfone has standardized it with one flat rate which is nice.

Do you know what class SD this phone uses or how quickly it can read and write? Anything over the data transfer speed of the device is pretty much useless so it does not make sense to spend more $ for a 6mbs if it only reads @ 2mbs etc. I Can't find any info on the LG website, they do not even list this phone?

We've had a Nokia tracfone since 2006 and it's been perfect for us, but for the past month or so it indicates 'check call restrictions' whenever we try to make an 800 number call or any other long distance call. Tracfone makes no response to my inquiries about WHY or HOW can we upgrade this phone? We are happy with our little old no-frills phone but it looks like we're out of luck with it if we're not calling locally. So, which phone is best for a no-frills (except mobile web and external caller id) that will work with tracfone cards? Thanks for your expertise.

Well, it depends on what you want. If you want a touchscreen phone, the LG 840g is your best option from Tracfone. If you want a QWERTY keyboard, which I must say I like the most, I would suggest either the LG 530g or Samsung s390G. All these phones come with triple minutes for life which is nice, and are fairly simple to use.

Full reviews for these phones, as well as several other phones, can be found in the 'Tracfone cell phone reviews' section at the top of the page. Hope that gets you going in the right direction!

We've had a Nokia tracfone since 2006, which has worked perfectly for us until about a month ago when we suddenly started getting a 'check call restrictions' message whenever we tried to make a long distance or 800 number\er call. Tracfone customer service makes no response to WHY this happened or HOW to upgrade this phone. So we're looking for another tracphone, simple, no frills, recently manufactured, with only two requirements: mobile web and external caller id. What do you recommend? Thanks.

We've had a Nokia tracfone since 2006, which has worked perfectly for us until about a month ago when we suddenly started getting a 'check call restrictions' message whenever we tried to make a long distance or 800 number\er call. Tracfone customer service makes no response to WHY this happened or HOW to upgrade this phone. So we're looking for another tracphone, simple, no frills, recently manufactured, with only two requirements: mobile web and external caller id. What do you recommend? Thanks.

I just got my LG840G and I've been loving it. Using the Wi-Fi in my home, I was getting all of my emails on the phone. Then suddenly I got a message: "There is no more email space available." So I deleted all of the emails from my inbox / outbox / sent folders etc. But I still get the same message. I have been through every option on the phone that I can find. I have rebooted the phone several times and charged it over night. The message remains every time I try to "update" the email. I can access email via the browser, but the email function of the phone will not work anymore. I also tried to create a new email account but it tells me that this account already exists. I'm stumped. Love the phone, but am really frustrated now. help?-paul

I believe you can see the beginning of the message by tapping 'Ignore' on the pop-up notification. (I am not sure about this because I just got the phone, and only suggested it because it was effective with my last LG tracfone)

We got the Tracfone deal phone thru HSN. We continued to have a problem staying connected to the wifi while on the web and called tracfone. After a number of calls and talking to many folks of increasing knowledge we were told that Tracfone does not support the wifi/web feature and once connected you will be disconnected after a short time. We called HSN and informed them and they were going to change their ad on the HSN network. They said that Tracfone was working to allow this feature to work but were not sure when it would be available. Sounds like they want you to burn those extra minutes when using the web. While on the wifi/ web feature before you were to be disconnected you were informed there would be charges if you continued to surf.

I have not been able to get my pc to recognize my 840G (as a mass storage device). I called LG... they don't want to provide support per Tracfone's request.; however, I was able to speak with a sympathetic tech. He stated that the 840G only supports up to 4GB micro SD (contrary to page 11 of the user guide). I saw tha "anonymous" on 2-1-13 used a LG USB cable to connect. Would this be any different from any other standard A-to-micro USB cable? Any other thoughts on this issue?Also, would you have a link to find Opera mini to download?

I've had some version of a Tracfone for almost ten years now. I'm currently using an LG500G. One problem I've had on every Tracfone phone I've used is the speaker quality. Or maybe it's the signal strength. I don't know. But it's difficult to hear the person I'm speaking to because the volume seems to cut in and out. There's no point in even trying to listen to voicemail because of the way it breaks up. My phone usually shows 2-3 bars of signal strenght. Is it te phone or my service area? How can I find out? I'd like to upgrade to a newer phone, but don't want to waste the money on another Tracfone if I'm just going to have the same problem again.

Well, this is a challenging question, and at this point I don't have an answer for it. You might want to check out some cell phone forums, and see if there are others who have had this problem. A good forum I recommend is HowardForums.

Help? How do I actually enter a name into contacts? The phone keeps doing amazingly stupid autofill. I want to type 'Steph'. I can type St - then it starts putting in CRAP, none of which is 'e', when I try for the 'e'.

1. How can I beat this game?

2. Can I turn off auto-bad-guess?

This is making me regret buying the phone. It should not be this hard.

I just received the LG840G today and also saw the strange zip code search you mention from the Walmart site. After entering many zip codes from around the country into their search, I realized their search tool must not be working, because no zipcodes were coming up fine. I used the zip search on Tracfone site and the phone is said to work at all the zips I entered.Appears Walmart doesn't want to sell this model. I ended up ordering from QVC...LG840G with triple minutes, car and wall chargers, jelskin and 1400 minutes for $100!

At the moment I do not have any Minutes on my LG840G. But I still am able to send and receive "Texts" for FREE over WiFi connection. Basically the way the Peek Pronto devices used to work. -- Configure your email account on your phone (I suggest google, as its very fast for this, no delays). While connected to set your email account settings to "Push On". To text someone with an at&t phone, compose an email on your LG840G, and in the "To:" field enter the persons phone number/email as this (where the "x's are the numbers): xxxxxxxxxx@mms.att.net -- Your phone will route your msg/txt through google and the person will receive your text. They need to reply using your gmail email address. You'll receive their msg/text right on your LG840G phone. Have tried this with other email providers, aol, yahoo, hotmail .. and they do work, but very slow in receiving the messages. Google is almost instant. I do not know the email addresses for other carriers, but you can look that up.

I don't like the S390G because if I have it in a pocket it always seems to unlock or dials 000 which is a distress code. It will dial 911. They seem to answer, hang up, and then call you back asking if everything is ok. Very annoying! I'm wondering if the LG840G has a similar issue?

Just wanted to let you know I purchased the lg840g phone in February based on your answers to my list of questions. Very happy with the phone--great upgrade over old tracfone (Motorola w376g)--and its features!

2 new questions [1] how do I hook up the lg840g to the wi-fi so that i can use the email feature on the phone? if i'm using wi-fi anywhere, there are no minutes deducted, right?[2] are there games that can be downloaded onto lg840g, and what are the sites for downloads?

Hey! That's happening with my new LG840 Tracfone also! When sending a pic or receiving one, the phone will say it's deducting 1 minute, then a few seconds later an additional 4 to 6 minutes is also deducted. Can anyone offer an explanation for this overcharge?? I've submitted this question to tracfone tech support on 4/15 but didn't get any response.

I'd like to be able to use this phone to send/receive pics, but until I can get an explanation and/or fix, I won't do so.... Other than this issue, I'm quite happy with the phone.Any help will be appreciated!!

I found a GREAT fitting case for the LG840 Tracfone! Leather-type with a swivel clip. It's for the BlackBerry 9900. It's currently on Amazon for $1.38 and titled "BlackBerry HDW-38842-001 Swivel Holster for BlackBerry Bold 9900 9930 - Black". If you don't mind your case etched with "BlackBerry" on it that is. The LG840 from Tracfone slips right in and is well protected. I'm not one for wearing a phone on my person, but I like to have the phone protected in a case that I can clip on a purse, lunch bag or backpack!!

The autofill is annoying, I agree. You simply need to change the "Text Entry Settings".

After you click ADD NEW contact, click in name then:In upper right corner, click on the icon with 3 vertical lines. This will bring up a drop down screen.Click Text Entry Settings, then click "hide next word". You should be good to go!

My last tracfone did not charge me for receiving messages only sending them. This one does. Also I noticed that one text done not always count as one. You have to watch and see how many pages your text is. A longer text might be two or more pages long. If it is two or more pages long you will get charged for sending a text message per page. I did not notice this until I sent a 4 page text out and got charged for sending out 4 separate text. This is the same for receiving text. Bottom line if you do not want to get charged more then make your text short and sweet.

That's a good question which I am not 100% sure about, but I don't think so. The LG 840G does not use android or other common OS, it uses its proprietary java based software which makes it unlikely Skype would be available. But that is worth looking into.

I'm very glad I found this blog, it was very helpful buying a new tracfone. I bought one of these last week, and so far I've been very happy with it! However, there's one thing I want to mention. This month Tracfone is offering free overnight shipping, HOWEVER, if you actually want it delivered the next day, make sure to order between monday and thursday. I ordered mine before 3pm last friday, but because they don't do saturday or sunday deliveries, they didn't ship the phone out until monday. The shipping was still free, and arrived sooner and cheaper than if I'd ordered it off Amazon, but still worth mentioning I think.

I recently purchased my 840G to finally cut the phone cord. To a large degree it's OK. I do dislike the "touchyness" of the screen. But I have a MAJOR complaint - signal detection. This cell phone loses service several times a day while at the same location. I end up having to turn it off and back on and fool with phone location (usually a matter of a few feet). I have tried various locations with no real success. Problem with the carrier? Not to my older Tracfone Samsung T301G which is usually only a few feet away, and in some cases only inches. Tracfone "support" is totally useless in helping me determine my problem. One so-called technical person even suggested that the phone needed to be outside the building in an open space. How very useful for a cell phone that it seemingly could not be used inside. As it is, I have to constantly check the 840G to see if it has service. I must now consider dumping this phone for another. And after getting comfortable with the screen and use of widgets. And if I change phones, I will probably not use Tracfone again due to their poor service.

On the positive side... I purchased a Bluetooth device from Radio Shack that allows me to connect my old hardline base station and its remotes to my 840G so that I can use the more comfortable handsets to make and answer calls at home. So far, it's worked well. Although the device allows for multiple mobile ports, I only use one so that I don't have to tell the device which mobile to use when making calls.

Also, I finally figured out how to add widgets, and for us, a really useful one is the international call number. Very handy for us.

I have trouble with the sensitivity when I get a call and the phone is in my pocket. When I touch it the call goes away. I have tried to set it to "send only key", but that made no difference. I miss a lot of calls. Tony S

I have trouble with the sensitivity. When I get a call and the phone is in my pocket. When I touch it the call goes away. I have tried to set it to "send key only", but that made no difference. I miss a lot of calls. Is there anything I can do?

I have an LG 840g phone and it keeps losing minutes for no reason that I can figure out. Every time I turn on the phone it loses .15 minutes and other times the phones will just be sitting on a shelf and it deducts minutes. Someone posted a while ago that their phone was doing the same thing and it was because their email was loaded onto the phone and that they took the email off. I did put my email on once while playing around with the phone. Wanted to try this solution but I can't figure out how to take my email off the phone. any ideas for getting the email off and/or why my phone keeps losing minutes? Thanks!

You can also access your voice mail (I have a Tracfone 800g with 840g on order) from any other phone. I use my land line - press * or #, depending upon your phone, it asks for your passcode, you enter it and you retrieve your voice mail without using any minutes. I use on all our family tracfones, we between us we have at least five. The older ones ask for #, the new ones press * while you are hearing your "leave a message" message.

My experience (and I've had tracfones since 2006) is that it is the caller's phone that is breaking up - not yours. The caller is in/out of range. Tell the caller that he/she is 'breaking up' and they usually try to call you from a different area and then ...clear as day.

Um, so, want to tell me how to remove the email? I found the option to delete the account but it keeps giving me errors. I connected via wifi and tried again and now a different error message, and it keeps burning minutes for no reason.

The Calendar application worked for one week then started displaying the LG screen and rebooting. How often have LG840G users reported this calendar problem and are there any way to fix it other than replacing the phone with a new phone or wiping out all the contacts, appointments and photographs on the phone? It took several days for Tracfone to transfer the phone number from my old phone to my new LG 840G phone. The contacts and appointments had to be re-entered manually and all of the photographs on the old phone were lost. Very little memory has been used on this new phone. I run a business and would like to find a conclusion to this problem that would not interrupt my phone service for another week.

Anyone having problems with with LG800g texting? For me some texts come in as downloadable files ..phone says "get" when I press 'get' I can see the text.. and also phone appears to 'play' something but nothing is heard... (while I get charged more it seems than for a regular text) These texts are usually sent to multiple people (including myself) as far as I can tell. anyone have a solution for this? Also.. when a text comes in it shows the phone number only and not the name of the person sending it.. even though the name is in contacts.. some on other sites suggest putting nothing in last name field and making first name 10 characters or less in contacts.. this seems to work... but my what a short name! Phone seems pretty buggy..

I'm waiting for my new LG840G to arrive, I had a Tracfone a long time ago but changed to Boost Mobile (everyone was using Nextel) was not very happy with the change so now I'm back :) Question: If I choose the value plan of 50 minutes a month will I receive triple minute 150 minutes or only if you use a airtime card?

Good question. I can tell you from my own personal experience that you will get 150 minutes from the 50 minute plan when you have triple minutes for life. It is a great deal. (plus, visit our promo code page in the bar at the top of the screen next to 'about us' to find a promo code for 10 free minutes!)

Peter... great site you have going here. Tons of great information. I have a tough question for you. What is the date rate charged for the LG840. (i.e. How many units per KB or MB). I can't find this info anywhere. I can't even find what people are guessing the rate is.

That's a great question, and to be honest I don't know. I think perhaps Tracfone has not released that information for some reason. I've heard some things, but never anything definitive. Thanks for your comment, which I could answer it!

"I looked at the tutorials, and it appears to be charging like the S390G ... the buy/download app tutorial charges 14.97 minutes for the app, then deducts 11.07 minutes for the data connection (when you exit). Given the app is 602KB, at 1.5 minutes/100KB that would be 9.03 minutes, and the other 2.04 minutes would be for 136KB of data for browsing to find the app ... The LG530G looks to be doing the same."

Man... it is infuriating trying to deal with Tracfone support. Both email with them and facebook link to link chat was painful. Both told me it's 1 unit / 1 minute. I think they only have access to same bad/outofdate faqs that I already have access to. Really hard time communicating with them. After 10+ years as Tracfone user it shouldn't really surprise me that their bad customer service continue.

time for my Q. ive not bought 1 of these phones yet but thinking hard on it. my Q is that Walmart says it wont work in my area. It pops the area code thing up for zip codes and sometimes some works and some wont. All the other places i look at the phone to doesnt do that. do ya know why please?

Wow, great job tracking down this info! I truly don't understand why tracfone has such bad customer service. If they would fix that, they would be such a great company with their cheap cell phone deals.

I had that problem with the Walmart site too when I was on the fence about getting this phone. I checked the Tracfone website and entered my zip code and found this phone did indeed work in my area. I think Walmart's zip code search isn't working correctly or needs to be updated. Here's the link to the tracfone buy phones section.http://www.tracfone.com/e_store.jsp?task=buyphone&lang=en

Love my LG840G, but have one question. When I use one of my pictures as wallpaper, the time covers half the picture. I also have the time in the upper right corner of the phone. How do I delete the time block in the middle of the phone. I really don't need two times on one page. I've been all through settings and can't find a thing about doing this. Thanks

Hello! I just bought the LG840g, and am switching over from verizon. I read that radio shack can help transfer numbers from one tracfone to another, but does anyone know if they can transfer verizon contacts to tracfone? verizon phones don't use SIM cards to store the contacts, and so far my attemps to use the SD card to get my contacts into the 840g have been unsuccessful. Any help would be great!

you'll notice that the main screen says 'widget' at the top. At the lower right of the screen there is an arrow pointing up. click the arrow, then drag the time block down to the bar at the bottom of the screen to effectively 'put away' the time block widget.

From what i've heard, Tracphone has sort of "locked down" their phones in such a way that it doesn't allow apps to access the camera. If this is true they might not have any QR code downloadable apps for tracphones. Hope this helps! =)

LG840G users BEWARE!!! I just had to send my NEW phone back to tracfone to be exchanged for another. The had me open a service ticket to do this and I am now waiting 3-5 days for it.BE CAREFUL when plugging in charger cord if your charger is plugged in and phone is on! My lg840g was working fine after I added minutes, contacts, etc and went to plug charger in and phone started rebooting over and over again. Alternating between the LG logo and tracfone logo repeatedly! Could not get it to power on again even after removing battery and sim card and sd card for 24 hours.The service rep said based on my issue, my phone was defective.

UPDATE on defective LG840G...NEW replacement lg840g arrived today and is now charging per instructions and all accessories included with it, so we'll see how this goes.Fyi, the lady (customer service rep)I spoke with was a little hard to understand but with patience and 20min later she was VERY helpful!Now if I am able to transfer my minutes from the defective lg840g to the NEW one then all will be rockin... ;)

I ordered a 16GB MicroSD card Class 6 for my LG840G Tracfone, but received a 16GB Plus MicroSD card UHS-1 Class 10.Can I use this card, or is it too much for the phone?Any Pros and/or Cons would be helpful also.Thanks.

Is there a way to disable 3G? I hate that I accidentally can use a lot of minutes if I hit the wrong app. Is there a way to delete the games that came with the phone? I like the phone a lot, it's just that some of the options on it haven't really been thought through.

No way to turn off 3G other than putting the phone in airplane mode. But then phone can't make calls and I'm not sure if WIFI is still enabled when in airplane mode.

What I do is before starting any app, make sure the WIFI symbol shows up at top of screen. It always takes a moment for WIFI to become active after the phone has been inactive for a while.

You will always get a warning about using minutes if an app is about to connect via 3G. You can always exit an app quickly/instantly using the right soft key as well. Most of the time I am quick enough and get a 0.000 minutes used message.

I've never had any luck deleting any apps or wallpapers that are default on any Tracfone including this one. Would also love to know how to remove.

I got my LG 840g in the mail a few days ago. So far, it's a good phone (Love the Triple Minutes and the MP3 player. Don't like how rigid the stock web browser is and I kind of miss the physical buttons of my old Samsung T105g). I have a problem. I tried to sync my Gmail to the phone (put in the password, settings, et cetera), but it's not working at all (it quickly pops up a "Login Failed" notification after it tries to "Authorize"). I read somewhere that the app doesn't support passwords with both upper and lowercase letters, so I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue. I don't want to change my password for the sake of downloading mail on my phone (I'll use the web browser for my mail if I have to), but it'd be nice to have my emails with me for reference (especially in interviews or research).

One suggestion to keep from sucking up your minutes, is to only use your apps when you are connected to a wifi connection which will always show you the icon at the top of your screen. I have both the UC browser and Opera mini installed for this.

Phone is great. Had one problem fixed by a really nice person on this site. Now I have another. I can't send or receive pictures, it always says Unable To Send (or receive) message. I try sending from pics in message and adding attachment , or insert, in messages. I always get the same thing on the screen. Help Please, Audrey

Has ANYONE figured out HOW to tranfer mp3 music from a sd card into the audio player on the lg840g ?? I have approx 200 mp3s which played great on my lg900g and I loaded the sd card into my lg840g but can't figure out HOW to transfer the mp3s from the sd card into a playlist????

In the "Other Files" folder on the root of your SD Card, create a new folder called "Music". Put your MP3s in there (leastways, that's how I got my music to work). I generally leave the "Audio" folder for my ringtones and other sound bytes.

When you press the icon for text messaging, press on the "Inbox" button at the top and then press "Outbox" when it drops down. Then click on the "Options" button (looks like a square with three horizontal lines) and you'll see an option to delete your sent text messages.

What is the difference between the "white" vs "black" phones? I see there is an extra button in the upper right on the "white" phones that is missing on the "black" phones. Anybody know anything about this? Maybe one phone is of a newer design than the other.

Thomas, after creating the "music" folder on your sd card and moving mp3 tracks to it, were you able to shuffle or continually play your music without it stopping after each track?? Can you detail what you did?

I have read so much conflicting info about this phone being able(or unable) to use a 32GB microSD card. I know the phone manual says it can support a 32GB card, however many customer reviews say it only works with a 4GB card. Can anyone confirm that they are using a 32GB card in their phone??

I am sub teacher and I get text alerts for new jobs with a link in the text to accept the job. With the LG840 phone will I be able to click/tap on the link in the text message and have it take me to the web site in the text message? Or would I have to copy/paste or retype the link into the phone's browser?

I have read that when you receive an "incoming call" on this phone that there is no "slide to unlock" screen before answering the call, meaning that the buttons to "accept call" or "reject call" automatically pop up on screen and can easily be pressed even if you don't mean to (ex. if the phone is in your pocket). Can anyone confirm this about incoming calls?

With my LG840g, I have started to receive text messages that are from New Messageand there is no Subject, the size is 1K and it states to Download, press Get, but when I do, it states network unavailable. I have no idea who is sending these to me. Any ideas?

Can someone just tell me if a caller leaves me a voice message, do I pay for the fact that they did leave it??? I do not mean to pick up the message. My VM phone does not charge me for someone leaving me a voice mail message. Also, can anyone tell me the rate per minute of the triple minutes? I understand triple, but how much per minute of talk time? Also, I think it has an FM radio. Cost to listen to that? Cost to listen to Pandora if you can?

Just ordered this phone (Amazon, $28) for my daughter. But if you're using Pandora, that uses data to stream the music so you'd be charged data unless you're on wifi.

Triple minutes means any minutes you buy, get tripled. Your per minute cost will depend on what you paid for the card. Such as buy the 50 minute value plan for $9.99 per month, get 150 minutes. Of if you find a deal on a 450 minute card for $70 you'll get 1350 minutes.

As I understand, you're only charged if you check voicemail from your Tracfone.

Here's an unaddressed topic: Most of the functions on my older LG such as the calender do not allow you to store data on the SD card. This is annoying, as I depend upon the calender for my daily schedule. I got a message that the memory was maxed out, but yet the SD card was virtually empty as I do not save many pictures or videos.Does the LG 840g allow you to store calender, notes, etc to the SD card?

I'm new to blogs so I apologize in advance for my miscues. I'm coming in from the cold and getting a cell phone. This seems like a great forum to chat about that. I'm trying to distinguish between smart phones and Tracphones. I've come to the following conclusions but please correct me where I'm wrong and please add to my lists.

Smart Phones and Net10 Tracphones Disadvantages to Pre-Paid Tracphones 1. Must pay $25 - $45 a month whether you use the phone or not (cf. Pre-Paid Tracphone you pay $99 for the year and just add minutes when needed).

I'm trying to help a friend decide: tMobile Walmart $30/mo plan with unlimited texting -vs- Android Phone with Tracphone service. She expects her bosses to start sending her text messages and she having to text back. I was reading that under Tracphone you get charged 6 minutes for every text you received and then have to text back. That could get *very* expensive with Tracphone as compared to unlimited. Also, it seems you get charged minutes to open attachments? Is that right? Is there any Tracphone workaround for the text messages so it's not so expensive? Thank you for all your help!

You're not charged 6 min per text, for non-smartphones it is 0.3 min for each incoming/outgoing text. On the smartphones, it is different, you get a certain number of texts with each minute card you add - so if you add 60 minutes (which will get tripled because all of the smartphones have triple minutes for life) you will get 180 calling minutes, 180 texts, and 180mb of data. It is a pretty good deal, but if you plan to use the phone for a lot of texting and calling, better to go with unlimited.

Thank you so much for clarifying. Am I understanding the texting correct on the Smart Phones - that you are charged 1 minute for each text received and another minute when you send each text? Is the math that once you exceed the 180 minutes of texting - 90 minutes of texts received and 90 minutes of texts sent (or any other combo which adds up to 180 minutes) that after that you need to buy another minutes card which then makes the Tracphone Smartphone more expensive than the - let's just say for example- the Walmart tMobily unlimited texting monthly deal? Thank you again for all your patience, understanding and help.

Yes, you would be out of texts, but you would still have 180 minutes for calling, and 180mb of data.

So if you plan to do a lot of texting, hen the smartphones from Tracfone are not the best deal. But it is possible to text via wifi, (or data - using google voice) and for overall use, the smartphones are a pretty good deal.

If you plan to do a lot of texting, perhaps the phone on this page, the LG840G might be a good choice. It only costs 0.3 minutes per text, but it doesn't have android OS.

Peter, Thank you. This is so very helpful. So, if I'm understanding you correctly when she wants to text if she can find free WiFi (maybe her work has that? Not sure how to check for that?) or if she's in a Starbucks, McDonald's with free wifi then she can somehow connect to the free WiFI and then send her text for free?

Or somehow connect to Google Voice and send free text messages that way? I've never connected to Google Voice nor used it so I'm not sure how complicated that is? To avoid Internet access charges on her phone, would she first havetot find free WIFI and then access Google Voice?

She has a gMail account but that's all she's used Google for besides Googling.